My First Day On Hive/Steemit
Published on July 5, 2016.
Over four years ago! How can that be possible? True to form, I did things a bit backwards. I published two posts on Steemit before learning that it was customary to introduce yourself to the community.
I had SO much to learn about blockchain, mark-down coding, and life back then.
When I hit publish on this first post I had no clue about the crazy journey I was about to embark on. Over the past four years this journey has taken me all over the world and changed my life in so many incredible ways.
Here's my first ever post on the blockchain!
If you are not creative but have creative people in your life the following list may help you decipher some of our perceived oddities. If you are a creative person you might recognize some or all of these attributes in yourself and find some comfort in the fact that you're not alone.
With a little understanding and compassion we can all happily coexist and even learn from one another. Here are some tips to help better understand us:
Absolutely by no means sneak up on us. We are often deep in thought and we are easy to startle.
Most of us tend to be empaths (whether we realize it yet it or not). This means we have the ability to be very "in tune" with others and feel their negative and positive emotions. This is confusing to us until we figure it out. Other's emotions tend to easily transfer to us and we can misinterpret them as our own. Because of this it's very important to pay attention to the company you keep. William Gibson's quote (often falsely attributed to Sigmund Freud) comes to mind here, "Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assh*les." Also, we tend to make most of our decisions based on gut feeling instead of intellectualizing as analytical people do. Sometimes this works out, sometimes it doesn't. It's a roll of the dice.
We will occasionally have outbursts when ideas come to us or mumble incoherently to ourselves. When this happens please excuse the wild look in our eyes and our scrambling to find some way to quickly record those ideas. We are like channels and when we're in the creative flow complex ideas hit us spontaneously and swirl inside our heads. When this happens we tend to shut everything else out until we record those ideas. If we don't write them down chances are we'll forget them and we're afraid that we might lose them forever.
Life can be especially difficult for us. As a creative we're either: 1. working a job that doesn't afford us the chance to use our creativity and satisfying our creative urge on our own time; or 2. pursuing our creative passions as a full time career. Both are equally as challenging. Those of us who fall in the first category usually have money to pay the bills but often have to work the equivalent of two full time jobs. Those creative people brave and smart enough to figure out a way to monetize their passion to the point of making a full time income usually have the stress of trying to financial make ends meet . As James Altucher (The Choose-Yourselfer-In-Chief) explains, finding multiple revenue streams is often the answer. Either way we're very busy folks.
We're typically introverts in varying degrees. Even if we truly enjoy and appear comfortable socializing it can sometimes take more energy for us. This is partially attributed to #2 above.
It can sometimes be difficult for us to make other, non-creative people, understand how we feel (and vice versa) but it can be done with patience and practice. In my opinion, this is why so many creative people express their feelings and emotions through their chosen art.
Most of us creatives are eccentric and rebellious. We feel smothered by routine and conformity. Creative people tend to not follow trends. We see through propaganda and it makes us angry and agitated when we feel someone is trying to control us for their own agenda.
We tend to enjoy altered states of consciousness because we quickly learn that achieving these altered states of consciousness can open up our creative channels. Those of us who are lucky discover that through meditation we can achieve this altered state without the outside help of drugs, alcohol or anything external. Meditation is the creative person's best friend, personally and professionally.
We need quiet time to devote to our creative passions. Creating is what feeds our souls and we get frustrated and depressed when we don't have the time to do this. Please be respectful of a creative person's privacy when they are creating. If you give them the gift of this time they will be happier in all other aspects of their life.
Honest support and feedback is invaluable to us, even if it stings at first. I can only imagine how frustrating and tiring it is for non-creative people when their creative friends and relatives are constantly and enthusiastically sharing their latest idea. It's easy to say to like everything but if the idea stinks, tell us it stinks. You might save us valuable time and give us ideas to polish our idea and make it better.
Pass this along handy guide on to all of your friends, creative and non-creative alike. It's a big world and it takes all kinds. As the French say, "Vive la difference!"
That's it, as it appeared on July 5, 2016 Link.
It's pretty easy to enter, and I would love to see your first real post!
How to Enter!
......
STEP 1:
Create a post sharing your own FIRST EVER HIVE (or Steem) POST (EXCLUDING INTRODUCTORY POSTS). You are welcome to use a format like mine - but PLEASE create your OWN HEADER DESIGN! Also - feel free to "link" it to your ACTUAL original post. (Not compulsory)
STEP 2:
Your blog post TITLE must be:
My entry to the "My first ever HIVE BLOG POST challenge"
STEP 3:
Be sure to include the DATE your post was published.
(Like I did above) - @peakd gives full date clarity on posts.
STEP 4:
Include the "How to Enter" section at the end of your post so that others know how to join in and what is required.
STEP 5:
Use the following two tags (in any order) as a part of your 8 or 10 tags: myfirsthiveblogpost and powerhousecreatives
STEP 6:
Publish your post to the PHC community feed
(https://peakd.com/c/hive-114105/created)
STEP 7:
Share a link to your post in the comments of THIS post.
STEP 8 (optional):
ONLY IF you are on Twitter - Share your post on Twitter using the same tags mentioned above (and the usual hive tags) and add that link in the comments of this post too.
I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and crypto-enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my work please sign up for my author newsletter at my website. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive updates and special offers and your information will never be sold or shared.
Alarm Clock Dawn, one of the first full length novels published on the blockchain, and the book that started it all for me can be found HERE. Or Click Here to read it for free on the Steemit blockchain
My book on meditation, The Perfect Pause, is priced at $12.99 (paperback) and $4.99 (eBook). Buy the paperback and receive the eBook for free!
This is almost like looking at an old photo album! In this publication there is a lot of today's Eric.. Although I didn't have the pleasure of reading those first publications, it has been an honor to read your texts for two years now. You are an extraordinary being, of which there are very few, winged like birds or angels. I hug you and have a nice Sunday with your family.
Thank you very much Nancy! I'm so happy you found my blog.
It seriously seems like a lifetime ago since I wrote that first post and I remember the exact moment. My wife and I had just sold our house and were living in a tiny rented apartment. I had the day off from work, for some reason. I spent about an hour trying to format that post, took a deep breath, then hit "post".
After struggling with trying to make money from my writing for so many years I was blown away that a short blog post could make over $30. Then, my posts went through a long, dry spell of not making much of anything. A few weeks later this post got some attention. After that there was another very long dry spell, and then this post hit big, it made $900! That was over a week's pay at my day job at the time. I could believe what was happening, nothing was the same after that. What a journey. I hope you have a great weekend!
Very nice! I don't know if I would be able to find my first post even if I wanted to. I think it was pretty much a hot mess. I held a lot of my good stuff until later when I had a better following. I didn't want to blow my good content on penny upvotes. I think I still only got pennies but oh well...
Thanks! I was very lucky to have a four year backlog of articles and blog posts that I had previously written. Many of my early Steemit posts were written between 2012-2016. It's so interesting to go back and look at those posts from the beginning. As I was doing that I relived the excitement of those early days.
I got in right as things were heading up the rollercoaster and I was soon hit with the downhill ride. By the time I had a decent following no one had the funds to appropriately upvote the stuff. I kept posting anyway.
I had about four months of really good earning before that steep dive. I kept posting through that bleak winter of 2017-2018 as well. That was awful after experiencing the highs of the previous summer and fall and the excitement of SteemFest.
WOWY! What an amazing post Eric, where does all this wisdom and insight come from?
Reading this is like looking in a mirror, that's my exact experience in so many ways.
And I do believe number 2 below became true for you, you just didn't know back then just what amazing times lay ahead.
Bravo Eric and thank you for being you and being here!
Thank you, Lizelle! I did a lot of this kind of writing in the 2012-2016 timeframe. Much of what I posted early on in Steemit were recycled blog posts from that era. I was active in James Altucher's Choose Yourself community on social media and would post these articles there. His book, Choose Yourself, really is a large part of what led me to Steemit and landed me where I am today.
I really appreciate it and thank you for being here as well!
It's amazing how your first post was so good! When i was reading the article, i couldn't help but identify with your words... but i didn't identify myself as ¨creative¨ i identified myself as a designer... I believe that creativity is a little more subjective, many people say that they are not creative because they cannot draw, write or they don´t have artistic skills... but i believe that we are all creative in our own way! Because even the plumber has to be creative when looking for a solution to a new problem, we just have to open our minds and find solutions.
And thanks for your visit to my blog!! I hope you like my content.
Thank you @tripode! You're right, creativity comes in all kinds. Even an accountant can be creative, those are the best kind. Lol. You're very welcome, I am enjoying your posts very much!
That's so good to hear! Have a nice day!
Thanks! You too!
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